Visual-Ortographic Word Recognition and Phonological Awareness as Predictive Indicators of Reading and Writing in the Context of Emerging Literacy in Preschool Education

Abstract

Μany studies have highlighted a sufficient number of predictive indicators of reading and writing. Phonological awareness is one of the most well studied prognostic indicators and although it can, to some extent, predict  the course of development of the reading and writing abilities in young readers it does not appear to be the only variable that can contribute to a complete picture of the future reader. For this reason, in the present study carried out in the framework of a dissertation for the needs of the postgraduate program "Education Sciences" of the EAP, the importance of not only phonological awareness but also of visual-orthographic skill (word recognition as an image before systematic teaching), which has been under studied in relation to the factors that affect reading and writing learning. The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate the predictive value of the two aforementioned skills in relation and in comparison to basic preschool literacy skills, in the context of implementing an emergent literacy program. The sample of the study consist of the students of a kindergarten located in ​​Attica (n = 16) who participated in an aptitude assessment test (visual-orthographic recognition of words, phonological awareness, writing, reading) at the beginning and end of the school year. The results of the study confirm the importance of both factors (phonological and visual-orthographic) for the development of reading and writing skills. In addition, the visual-orthographic factor appears to be the most reliable predictor of reading and writing, in the early stages, before the implementation of emergent literacy programs in kindergarten. We suggest that this finding could be accommodated in the design of language curricula, as well as in building a complete picture of the reading and writing potentials of young students before the onset of systematic language teaching.